I'm your eldest senior brother, after all

Naturally, Ling Feng dared not make the decision on something like this. He could only promise to report it to the sect leader.

Only after Ling Feng rode his white crane off into the distance like a madman and vanished beyond the horizon did Ouyang finally move.

Ouyang sighed, looking at Leng Qingsong and the other two, who were staring fixedly at him.

"Stare, stare, stare! What are you staring at? It's not like flowers are growing on my face!" Ouyang snapped.

"Eldest senior brother, what if Zu Yuan runs away before the Sect Grand Competition?" Bai Feiyu asked.

This world was incredibly vast. Even in his previous life as a Sword Immortal, he had never glimpsed its entirety.

If Zu Yuan really grew frightened and went into hiding, finding him would be like fishing a needle out of the ocean.

After all, he only needed to hide for ten years. Once Chen Changsheng died and his cultivation perished for failing to fulfill his Heavenly Dao Oath, Zu Yuan could emerge and live openly again.

"What else can we do? Go to Azure Cloud Peak right now and chop off that brat's arms and legs? Hey! Get back here! I wasn't telling you to go!" Ouyang said angrily.

He had never expected Leng Qingsong to spring to his feet, grab his sword, and head straight outside!

This junior brother was a little too straightforward. When something came up, he really did charge right in!

Ouyang called back Leng Qingsong, who was about to go chop off Zu Yuan's limbs, and unleashed another torrent of scolding on him.

Holding the Tibetan fox, Hu Tutu looked worriedly at Chen Changsheng lying on the recliner. "Will third senior brother be okay? I saw him coughing up blood just now. It must really hurt, right?"

Seeing Hu Tutu on the verge of tears, Ouyang hurried to reassure her. "He's fine. Changsheng just exhausted his true essence, and his anger surged to his heart and disturbed his internal organs, making him cough up blood. Keeping that stagnant blood inside would actually have done him harm!"

After soothing Hu Tutu and telling Bai Feiyu to keep a close eye on Leng Qingsong, whose head was filled with nothing but fighting, Ouyang picked up Chen Changsheng and carried him to his room.

Chen Changsheng had a very long dream. In it, he returned to his previous life.

In that world where the sun never shone, he was covered in blood and filth, endlessly hacking down the devils charging at him.

Blood and filth plastered his eyes, blurring his vision. Every meridian in his body had been severed, and he could not summon even a strand of true essence. All he had left was the instinct to hack and kill.

Even so, Chen Changsheng still held his sword in a death grip.

Suddenly, the scene before him changed, and the face he had never forgotten appeared before him again.

The man was handsome to the point of being uncanny, dressed in blood-red robes. The vertical eye between his brows gleamed with evil, two horns sprouted from his head, and black wings extended from his back.

Countless wronged souls coiled around his entire body, making him look like a vicious ghost that had walked out of the Underworld!

That face belonged to none other than Zu Yuan!

The Devil Race Sacred Emperor!

One of the chief culprits behind this Apocalypse!

Zu Yuan held the Blood-Red Saber in one hand and a severed head in the other, throwing his head back in wild laughter.

By then, Zu Yuan had become the greatest devil in the world.

He had killed everyone Chen Changsheng knew and turned almost the entire world upside down!

The instant Chen Changsheng saw the head in Zu Yuan's hand, bloody tears streamed from his eyes as he screamed with all his might.

That head was Ouyang's!

Throughout the Apocalypse, Ouyang had always stood in front of him. His senior brother had sheltered him from the wind and rain of every danger, every horror.

Even as Ouyang died horribly before his eyes, he was still telling him to run for his life!

Chen Changsheng wanted revenge. He thought about it day and night, until the obsession drove him into cultivation deviation. Yet before Zu Yuan, who had already become an Immortal, he remained as insignificant as an ant!

Suddenly, Ouyang's head in Zu Yuan's hand snapped its tightly shut eyes open and shouted at him, "Run!"

"Ah!..."

Chen Changsheng jolted upright in bed, gasping for breath. Cold sweat had soaked through his clothes.

"Had a nightmare?"

A voice he could not have known more intimately came from beside him.

The moment Chen Changsheng heard it, tears spilled down his face. He hurriedly covered his eyes with his sleeve and said in a muffled voice, "Sweat got in my eyes."

Watching Chen Changsheng try to hide his embarrassment, Ouyang chuckled. Sitting in the chair beside the bed, he looked at him calmly. "Do you blame me for stopping you from killing Zu Yuan?"

Chen Changsheng shook his head, feeling some regret himself. Ever since his rebirth, he had acted with utmost caution. Yet when he saw his enemy again, hatred had still gone to his head.

Not only had he failed to kill Zu Yuan, he had beaten the grass and startled the snake.

"I know what you're worried about, senior brother," Chen Changsheng said sullenly. "If I killed him, I'm afraid there would be no place for me in the Azure Cloud Sect, or even the entire Cultivation World."

Infighting was strictly forbidden within the sect. If the sect discovered disciples killing one another, the lighter punishment was to cripple their cultivation and expel them; the harsher punishment was execution on the spot!

If Chen Changsheng really killed Zu Yuan, it would amount to killing himself as well.

It was a course that would leave both sides destroyed. Naturally, Ouyang would never agree to let Chen Changsheng do that.

That was why, before letting Ling Feng leave, he had forced him to acknowledge that everything Chen Changsheng had just done was merely a spar between fellow disciples.

As long as everyone involved admitted it was a spar, Chen Changsheng could not be held accountable.

Ouyang sighed as he looked at his junior brother. Having returned through rebirth, Chen Changsheng should know Zu Yuan's identity.

Ouyang also knew that Zu Yuan was the Devil Race Sacred Son.

But would anyone believe such a claim made with nothing but a bare mouth and empty words?

Even Xiao Bai, the reincarnation of an Ancient Sword Immortal, could not see through Zu Yuan's true identity. Could they really expect that bunch of old good-for-nothings to see it?

However, Chen Changsheng had sworn a Heavenly Dao Oath before passing out.

With that oath backing him up, everyone would surely become wary of Zu Yuan's identity.

Rather than stating it outright, letting others grow suspicious on their own would make them doubt Zu Yuan all the more.

Hearing Ouyang sigh, Chen Changsheng's heart tightened. He immediately said, "Senior brother, don't worry. I definitely won't make a move against him anytime soon."

Not anytime soon, but he still would later.

Ouyang shook his head, walked over to Chen Changsheng, and bent down to ask quietly, "Did you leave a mark on him?"

Chen Changsheng nodded. When Zu Yuan had charged out and cut down three of his duplicates, he had left a soul imprint on him.

With that imprint, he could find Zu Yuan even if he fled to the ends of the earth!

Only then did Ouyang nod in satisfaction. This junior brother of his was cautious and left no cracks for anything to slip through.

Good! Much better than a certain idiot who only knows how to clutch his sword and charge.

"Get some rest. What's done is done. We'll take it one step at a time!" Ouyang comforted him.

Chen Changsheng obediently lay back down, gazing blankly at Ouyang. "Senior brother, if-and I mean if-killing Zu Yuan could prevent a catastrophe, would you believe it?"

Ouyang paused, then shook his head. After considering his words, he said, "You've misunderstood. A catastrophe won't change because of one person. Even if you kill Zu Yuan, a second and a third Zu Yuan will appear. The catastrophe isn't a coincidence. It's inevitable!"

Chen Changsheng nodded, then said glumly, "A catastrophe will kill so many people. We have to find a way to stop it!"

Ouyang smacked Chen Changsheng on the forehead and laughed as he scolded him. "The Azure Cloud Sect alone has countless powerful cultivators. A catastrophe isn't something a Core Formation Realm weakling like you should be worrying about. Just get some sleep."

After giving Chen Changsheng a lecture, Ouyang left his room. As he stepped over the threshold, Chen Changsheng's voice rang out behind him. "Senior brother, if a catastrophe really happens, I'll definitely protect everyone!"

Something stirred in Ouyang's heart. Without turning back, he said softly:

"If a catastrophe really comes, as long as I'm alive, the sky won't fall. I'm your eldest senior brother, after all!"